1. Is OCZ covering their arse...and IMHO its overkill. I used my std image, cloned the image to the 1tb hdd and then installed the software (after pluggin in the SSD). works fine for me....YMMV, but honestly cant see that being an issue. UNLESS it becomes an issue...in which case YMMV.

2 &3. yes. that falls into the "you dont say" category. Typical PIBCAK issue. You would be running a 3rd party device which is intercepting and redirecting the IOs between the OS and the drive(s) and want to screw with the underlying foundation drivers?!...and you wonder why things go south in some cases?! Ugh. This is why help desk support peeps are NOT paid enough. Then again, why would you want to update the SATA drivers? The only big reason to do so is for increase performance (N/A for this setup) and improved TRIM support (also N/A for the synapse).

Still not seeing the problem here. This drive can / should be considered the "poor man's RevoDrive 3". It improves performance but uses a software solution to do so. When dealing with fake raid, hybrid raid, etc etc....you dont mess with the motherboard's controller drivers. Ever. Just like you dont stick a fork into a light socket. Bad Things (TM) can and will happen.

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